


The Near Miss

by iulia_linnea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-27
Updated: 2012-10-27
Packaged: 2017-11-17 03:45:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/547274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iulia_linnea/pseuds/iulia_linnea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus doesn't know Luna Lovegood half as well as he might . . . .</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Near Miss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mananeh](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mananeh).



> Written on 10 July 2006 for [mananeh](http://mananeh.livejournal.com/profile).

Severus entered the Dreamscape Diarist and stopped just over the threshold because the reek of the destructive distillation of wormwood pervaded the front room. Several uses for various extracts of wormwood immediately sprang into the Potions master's mind, but he doubted that a bookseller needed any of them. 

_Unless his books are flea-ridden_. "Hello?" he called, stepping farther into the shoppe, which appeared to be empty.

The sound of water cascading caught his attention, and Severus turned toward the left side of the room in time to see someone in a woolly hat—all he could see was the hat, as the shelves were taller than its wearer—push through a curtain of colorful beads and make his or her way toward the service counter before which he was standing.

"Oh! Professor," Luna Lovegood said, blinking up at him. "Happy summer."

Severus frowned. _A happy summer is one in which I do not see a student_. "Miss Lovegood. What are you doing here?"

"I work here, Sir," Luna replied, grinning as she walked behind the service counter and hopped up to sit upon a stool behind it, "since Dad bought the place. How may I help you?"

Severus paused. He had no intention of discussing his special order with a student. "Is Miss Moonbeam working today? Miss Artemisia Moonbeam? She's . . . familiar with my order."

Luna blinked once and slowly before saying, "Miss Moonbeam's on holiday, Professor, but I'd be happy to—"

"That will not be necessary. When is she expected back?"

Luna blinked twice and quickly before saying nothing.

"Is there a problem?" Snape demanded, beginning to feel acutely uncomfortable. _She promised not to share our correspondence with anyone_!

Severus had met Artemisia Moonbeam quite by accident in the offices of the _Quibbler_ , where Albus had sent him to ask Mr. Lovegood to refrain from publishing any stories related to Aberforth and his goat problem. The witch, who was a functionary in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, had been there to complain about an article Lovegood had run about the relative harmlessness of vampires. She had also been breathtakingly beautiful, seemingly unaware of Severus' reputation, and willing to speak to him. Their conversation had carried over into drinks, then dinner, and then bed. They had met infrequently since taking leave of each other at the Hog's Head the morning after their first meeting, but their correspondence had remained . . . vigorous. And when Artemisia had left the Ministry—the traveling connected to her position had become too arduous—to manage the Dreamscape Diarist, she had promised Severus that they might see each other more often. 

With Potter soon to return for his sixth year of trying Severus' patience, the Potions master had thought it would be gratifying to see Artemisia again.

 _She might have told me she was going away on holiday. . . . I might have joined her_ , Severus thought, watching Lovegood watch him, while he castigated himself for giving in to the whim that had put him in his present, embarrassing circumstance.

"There's no problem, Sir. It's just that . . . Artemisia won't be pleased with me if I let you leave here without filling your order."

"I haven't actually placed it, yet."

"Ah, so you haven't made up your mind. I understand. Would you like to see the _Rare Books in Print_ catalog?"

"Why?"

"Well, whatever you need is surely in there," Luna replied, adjusting her hat.

Severus stared at it suddenly as Lovegood turned up its black edge to reveal a multi-colored underside. _I know that hat. That's_ — "You must know Miss Moonbeam well."

"Why? Oh," Luna said, dropping her hand. "The hat? Well, we do share things sometimes. Artemisia's kind that way, and I'm forever forgetting things."

"It's still rather warm for hats," Severus replied, feeling suspicious without understanding why.

Luna blinked thrice and worriedly before saying, "I've charmed it cold in the back room—because of the fire, you see."

"The disruptive distillation?"

"Oh, you know?"

"Of course I know, Miss Lovegood. What, pray, do you need with essence of wormwood?"

Her expression close and serious, Luna leaned forward over the counter and whispered, "The books have fleas."

"Miss Lovegood."

"Not all of them, of course," Luna continued, straightening up, "just the batch we got in on wereleopards. They're covered in wereleopard fur, you know, and—"

"You're lying to me."

"They are covered in wereleopard fur!"

"You're making absinthe, aren't you?"

Luna blushed and looked down.

 _Artemisia always blushes and looks down_ , Severus thought, feeling a pang of loneliness. _Lovegood must spend a great deal of time in her company to be aping her gestures. I . . . I shouldn't upset her, or Artemisia might_ . . . . "I don't care if you are brewing absinthe, Miss Lovegood." 

Luna's head flew up. "You don't? You . . . won't tell anyone, Sir?"

"No. Just . . . don't drink too much of it. It's not healthful."

"She was right about you. You are kind, aren't you?" Luna replied, grinning again.

 _I'm an idiot_ , Severus thought, saying crisply, "Quill. Ink."

"Oh! You want to leave Artemisia a letter? I'm sure she'll like that," Luna told him, hopping down from the stool to ferret about the items on the cluttered counter. "She seems to like receiving your letters—not that she'll let me read them, of course."

It suddenly occurred to Severus, as he was writing his note, that Artemisia, who lived with such demanding and particular flatmates that she had always refused to bring him home with her, might keep her letters somewhere in the shoppe. _And Lovegood might have read them. No. That cannot be. My letters are always spelled for her eyes only_. "Please see that Miss Moonbeam receives this the moment she returns. I have need of the books in question by Yule, and it may take some time to track them down."

"Yes, Sir. Of course. I'll . . . see you in the fall," Luna replied, tucking the note away in a drawer under the counter.

"So you will," Severus replied, turning smartly on his heel and making haste from the shoppe.

Inside of it, Luna sighed. It had been a lonely summer for her. Not many of her friends had written, and only one of them had wanted to visit.

"But I just can't get the base of my illusion potion to come out right," she said in frustration, as she returned to the back room thinking, _I miss you, too_.


End file.
